Uganda Quarantines Congolese Returners for 21 Days After Travelers Test Positive

Uganda's health ministry said Sunday that citizens returning from the Democratic Republic of Congo will spend 21 days in quarantine at their own expense, and travelers who have visited the country will no longer be permitted to transit through Uganda. The restrictions follow two travelers who passed through Uganda and later tested positive for Ebola in Kenya and Nigeria.

More than 4,800 people have died in DR Congo since May in what the country's deadliest outbreak of the disease, and the virus has since reached several other nations. Uganda's health ministry reported that the 60 people monitored after contact with the Kenyan patient have all been discharged.

Health Minister Chris Baryomunsi told the BBC's Newsday that only essential travelers from DR Congo would be admitted, subject to "intense public health measures." He said the restrictions exist "to ensure that we keep Uganda free of Ebola." Uganda has expanded screening at Entebbe International Airport, at land border crossings, and at designated road checkpoints.

No cases have been reported inside Uganda, health officials said. The country recorded 20 cases and two deaths at the start of the DR Congo outbreak, and the World Health Organization declared it free of the virus in August. Diana Atwine, the ministry's permanent secretary, said CCTV footage showed no physical interaction between the two passengers who tested positive after passing through Entebbe on the same day.

Jean Kaseya, head of Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, identified the patient in Nigeria as the Ugandan-born wife of a Swiss diplomat who had visited the Ugandan capital for a holiday. The Kenyan patient traveled from DR Congo, where he had business interests. He died two days after arriving in Nairobi, and Kenya has confirmed eight additional cases; a second woman related to the businessman died over the weekend.

Ugandan officials previously said the Nigerian patient had traveled to eastern DR Congo, transiting only through Uganda. On Sunday, the health ministry said Uganda and Nigeria are jointly working to establish her movements, travel history, and possible exposure routes. Baryomunsi said transmission continues across the shared border, and communities remain connected through trade, travel, and family ties. The Bundibugyo species behind the outbreak is rare, and no vaccine or specific treatment exists, though trials are under way.